This part of Afghanistan will definitely freak the hell out of any normal person. It's dirty, smelly and disgusting. There, no one will care of you and your life will cost nothing. Chaos, disorder and impunity - these words have never been that descriptive...

Approaching Kabul.

In the airport, there are a lot of military equipment and aircraft. Almost all helicopters are Russian.

An absolutely empty arrival hall - no taxi cars, no greeters. Nobody is allowed to enter the airport. It's buses which take the passengers out of it.

In nearby shops, you can buy a local sim card with the GPRS Internet connection and even an iPhone.

The first impression of Kabul is that it's either a big jail or a fortress. There are huge concrete fences with barbed wires along its streets. Weapon emplacements, sandbags and soldiers are everywhere. A lot of people with guns, all in different uniforms. The second impression can be described with only one word - dirt. It's VERY dirty in Kabul.

If your theory is correct, why is the workers paradise that was the Soviet Union not around any more. Why does the West dwarf the production, the standard of living, and the safety and welfare of the Ex-Soviets? Go live in a MArxist paradise if you want. North Korea and Cuba are still clining to that fantasy. I should be impressed with Brzezinzki. I’d be more impresssed by reading Martha Stewart.

“great projekt wich were build with the help of the soviet union”… I wonder if you mentioned that the pictures of a flourishing Afghanistan were fromt the time before the Soviet invasion, after the Soviets invaded, without any good reason, the country was left in ruins, 1,5 million people were killed and millions of Afhganis fled out of the country.

Kongo was never invaded by the US, neither was Rwanda or Iran, nor Libanon or Bolivia. Libya and Serbia were attacked but never invaded. Yougoslavia didn’t exist anymore when there was a foreign intervention in the Balkans with American participation. LMaybe you could fisrt get your simple facts straight before posting nonsense. Or do you want to prove the terrible condition Russian education is in?

The INTERNATIONAL DEFENCE FORCE has been doing their job the last years. But yeah your’re right though. Afghanistan has always had something wrong with it (I don’t want to come off sounding like a prick). Alexander the Great tried going in there and left, Brits (when they were working on their empire) tried and left, Germany and Britain tried during WW1 and left, Soviets tried and left. And Now the US, Canada, UK, and multiple other countries are in there. Judging by the history I believe it’s going to turn out the same.

The US picked the wrong nation, these people have strong faith and it is a matter of time of US withdrawal.
It’s all about money, not any democracy, peacekeeping, or taliban. If not the natural resources, the US give a dam thing about any country or peace, like in Africa. Afganistan is rich in its mineral resources – http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/14/world/asia/14minerals.html and holds good place for alternative oil routes to Europe. But as long as the civilian bombings and killings continues, there will be plenty of those who fight for their lost ones and freedom.

Wow. Gr@y has lost his mind. You blame the US because the Afghan people can’t figure out how to take care of their own trash? It would be easy to pile it up and burn it, burry it, or ship it to a landfill. But yes, the US caused that. All the free heroin is passing out is responsible for the drug addicts. The US has get criticized for destroying poppy fields and blamed for drug addicts. Face it. Russia destroyed the country. It is a dirt poor place. The US didn’t make that happen. In fact, Afghanistans best chance is US help to redevelope.

Somehow, I bet these Afghans blame Russians for a whole Hell of a lot when their not around too.

Go ahead and blame the Russians and Americans, We are the “Bad-Asses” of the World, yes and we take great pride in being such. It’s much easier to blame us for all your troubles than it is getting off of your filthy lazy asses for a change and doing something, like try making your country a decent place to live and raise children.

I heard from someone who lived in Turkey for many years, that Muslim men like to rape their little boys and this is actually a well known fact and is practiced throughout the Muslim World, is this really true?

These locals have had foreign occupation and religious law enforced on them for more than a generation. Of course they have the right to blame others – they seem to being trying to live an existence. How do you suggest an individual starts to ‘change’ his country?

A. Bunka here. How totally depressing. Let’s face it, many have tried to effect change in Afghanistan through invasion. Many armies have occupied it, none have conquered it. When I look at these pictures I can only think of one word: why?

An excellent photo documentary. The Russians when in Afghanistan were much more brutal and savage than the Americans. Unfortunately, Russians are still a less civilized people, but the Afghans are truly the lost people of the world. Their own inner contradictions will prevent them from ever having a decent present, let alone future.

Fact: 100’s of newspapers articles over the past ten years, citing U.S. government officials, have repeatedly touted “progress” and “improvements” with everything to do with Afghanistan. From the situation with the Taliban, to the “rebuilding” of Afghanistan. President Obama was talking about progress in Afghanistan just today, as a matter of fact.

americans spend millions of dollars on military hardware but to win this war you should just support local people with that money and people wouldnt turn to taliban. and lets remember that when rembo was fighting with taliban it was all good.

The brutal Russian invasion was actually just an excursion by the boy scouts. They went there to sing songs and spread peace and happiness. Russia can do no harm… Their tanks shoot candy and their planes drop kisses

The afghan government asked russia to help. Because USA started to support the barbaric Islamists with weapons and money. Well but you can see what the support of radical brought to YOU. Yes. You can see it in YOUR country. In New York.

what a degradation, does anyone knows if this degradation is due to the american agressor or was it also before the americans invaded theyr country
I know that americans ruined Irak and killed many civilians on a false claim.
God will not be happy about that

This country was a mess since the Russian invasion. The Taliban made it worse.

Iraq was a mess before the American invasion. The mass graves prove that. False claim or misinformed reasoning aside. Sadam was a genocidal dictator and the country is better off today than it was under his reign

What about the millions of Iranians he killed. What about the thousands of Kuwaitis he killed. What about the millions of shiite iraqis he subjugated. What about the mass graves of all the politcial disidents. War is always the last option. Unfortunatly it is sometime needed.

Really. Free elections, Democratice Rule, The Free market, Free education for all citizens, Better health care, No fear of government death squads, no army using chemical weapons against it’s own people. You’re right. Iraq is worse off.

Also, some of the biggest oil contracts in Iraq belong to China. That is as East as you can get. You should change your name to Revisionist.

“In the nineteenth century, Afghanistan served as a strategic buffer state between Czarist Russian and the British Empire in the subcontinent. Afghanistan’s relations with Moscow became more cordial after the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917. The Soviet Union was the first country to establish diplomatic relations with Afghanistan in 1919[1] after the Third Anglo-Afghan war and signed an Afghan-Soviet nonaggression pact in 1921, which also provided for Afghan transit rights through the Soviet Union. Early Soviet assistance included financial aid, aircraft and attendant technical personnel, and telegraph operators.

The Soviets began a major economic assistance program in Afghanistan in the 1950s. Between 1954 and 1978, Afghanistan received more than $1 billion in Soviet aid, including substantial military assistance. In 1973, the two countries announced a $200-million assistance agreement on gas and oil development, trade, transport, irrigation, and factory construction. Following the 1979 invasion, the Soviets augmented their large aid commitments to shore up the Afghan economy and rebuild the Afghan military. They provided the Karmal regime an unprecedented $800 million.”

I think America could help Afghanistan better by withdrawing their army and instead send America’s negroes and homosexuals over to help the people of Afghanistan to rebuild their country.Then the people of Afghanistan would be happier and the people of America would be ecstatic.It would be a win win situation and everybody would benefit.

Will not the dryness and heat of the deserts and hills soon invade the valleys throughout Afghanistan, and choke all those in confict as well as those struggling to survive. They will collapse while arranging for next seasons bullets or seedl; to the heat it doesn’t matter which.

Think of the progress lost all for the love of power, pride, fighting, wealth…all across our planet, humanity’s opportunity squandered.

Another great idea would be to send over all the American politicians who are so concerned about the poor and oppressed.They could be shipped over without any funds but they could roll up their sleeves and personally assist and help the poor people of Afghanistan.It would be a great way for them to demonstrate their dedication to helping the poor.

“Women wear blue head scarves which look very nice”…….Is he being sarcastic.

No! They are a symbol of repression, of a ridiculous approach to male female relationships. Of a very sad imbalance in a society. The universe will hate and work against any community that treats women in such a shameful way. They might know the Koran by heart, but they interpret it wrong. Same as people who take the christian bible literally, like its a history book. 6 days of creation, Noah’s arch, Jonah and 3 days inside a fish!. Neither the Koran or the bible was ever meant to be taken literally.

You get back in life what you give. You cause pain, stress, anxiety, misery, what do you think you will get back.